Professor Kimani C. Toussaint

K. C. Toussaint, Jr., Ph.D. is a Professor in the School of Engineering at Brown University with appointments in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. He is also Senior Associate Dean in the Brown University School of Engineering beginning August 1st, 2020. Prior to joining Brown, Dr. Toussaint was on faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for 12 years, where he rose to the rank of Professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering. Dr. Toussaint directs the laboratory for Photonics Research of Bio/nano Environments (PROBE Lab), an interdisciplinary research group which focuses on both developing nonlinear optical imaging techniques for quantitative assessment of biological tissues, and novel methods for harnessing plasmonic nanostructures for light-driven control of matter. He is a recipient of a 2010 NSF CAREER Award, the 2014-2015 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting Associate Professor at MIT, the 2015 Illinois Dean’s Award for Excellence in Research, the 2017 Illinois Everitt Award for Teaching Excellence, and the 2019 Distinguished Promotion Award. Dr. Toussaint is also a Fellow of the OSA and SPIE, and Senior Member in the IEEE. In addition, he served as the PI and inaugural Director of the US National Science Foundation (NSF) Nanomanufacturing (nanoMFG) Node at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2017-2019.

Dr. Toussaint is also part of CELL-MET, a multi-institutional National Science Foundation Engineering Research Center in Cellular Metamaterials (EEC-1647837). CELL-MET aims to grow functional and clinically significant heart tissue while simultaneously developing a talented and diverse workforce to tackle future challenges in synthetic tissues engineering.

Current Members

Post-doc

Mbaye Diouf

Mbaye Diouf received his M.Sc. degree and PhD degree in Physics from the University of Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD), Dakar, Senegal in 2014 and 2017, respectively. During his doctoral study, he received a mobility fellowship from Engineering School of Communications of Tunis (Sup’Com), Tunisia. After his PhD, Mbaye served temporarily as a tutor in the Department of Physique, UCAD. He received a TRIL fellowship from ICTP, Trieste, Italy in 2019 at Elettra Synchrotron Trieste. He received a German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Fellowship at Max Born Institute, Berlin in 2018. During 2019, he received multiple travel grants to attend international conferences and workshops such as the FiO conference in Washington, D.C. and the ICO Topical Meeting on Optics and Applications Tunis, Tunisia. He is a member of the OSA. He joined the PROBE Lab in February 2020 as a Postdoctoral research associate. His research interests are optics and Photonics include nonlinear optics, light sheet microscopy, multiphoton microscopy and supercontinuum laser source.

Joshua Burrow

Joshua Burrow received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electro-Optics from the University of Dayton in 2015 and 2021, respectively. He received his B.S. degrees in Mathematics and Physics from Morehouse College in 2012. During his doctoral study, he was awarded the Ford Foundation Dissertation Fellowship from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine for his notable research and impactful DEI and STEM outreach activities. He is a member of Optica (formerly OSA), SPIE, APS, IEEE Photonics, and the National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP). From 2017 to 2019, he served as the Student Representative and Executive Board Member of the NSBP. In addition, he has organized over 10 conferences and workshops, including the 2018 OSA International OSA Network of Students Midwest Conference and 2019 ComSciCon-AIP Workshop. He joined the PROBE Lab as a Hibbitt Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in October of 2021. His research interests are in optics and photonics including light-matter interactions in nanomaterials, nanofabrication, nanomanufacturing, non-destructive material characterization, spectroscopy, microscopy, opto-chirality, and particle trapping. Outside of the lab, Joshua enjoys photography, graphic design, music, traveling, playing basketball, watching the Baltimore Ravens, and mentoring aspiring scientists and engineers.

Graduate Students

Zixi Lin

Zixi Lin is a graduate student in Biomedical Engineering at Brown University. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from Peking University in China in July, 2018. Her research focuses on nonlinear optical imaging of biological tissues and image analysis of complex fiber structures. She likes playing yoga, reading detective novels and playing the piano.

Adriana C. Salazar Coariti

Adriana C. Salazar Coariti is Research Coordinator and PROBE Lab Manager at Brown University. She received her B.S. in mechanical engineering from the Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She assists with the lab equipment management, and research. Adriana has experience in software development, data analytics and algorithm development. Previously, she worked in the Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning in the University of Illinois supporting online classes websites and CityHook in Dublin, Ireland helping analyze transportation data. In research, she has experience with beam alignment, two photon lithography and image processing. Topics she finds fascinating are: biomedical devices, nanotechnology, optics, materials, robotics and STEM education. Adriana was born and raised at 11,942 feet above sea level in La Paz, Bolivia. She finds joy reading the bible, swimming, listening to music, singing, hiking and cooking.

Krishangi Krishna

Krishangi is a first year graduate student in the Biomedical Engineering department at the PROBE Lab. She received her B.E in BME from Stony Brook University. Her previous research experience involved developing a protocol to develop plastic microfluidic chips that could potentially be used for biomedical applications such as digital PCR. Currently she is researching on non-linear optics for tissue fibers. Krishangi’s other interests involve exploring new places, reading, and electronic music.

Andrew Howes

Andrew Howes is a second-year graduate student in the Biotechnology PhD program and a member of the PROBE lab. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biochemistry from Case Western Reserve University in 2016 and his Masters of Science in Biotechnology from Brown University in 2018. His previous research experience includes developing self-assembled microtissues for 3D in vitro cell culture models. He is also interested in research in tissue engineering, fibrosis, and drug development. His hobbies include swimming, cooking, traveling and watching sports.

Mitchell Harling

Mitchell Harling is a first-year PhD student in the Biomedical Engineering program and member of the PROBE Lab. He received his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Maine in May 2020. His previous research experience focused on the nonlinear optical imaging of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and subsequent image analysis to investigate ECM alterations in diseased states. Outside of research, Mitchell plans to make an impact by developing and/or aligning with STEM outreach programs that are invested in engaging with historically underrepresented groups. His other interests include listening to music, reading, cooking, and hiking. 

Jieliyue Sun

Jieliyue Sun is a first-year PhD student in the Electrical and Computer Engineering program and a member of the PROBE lab. She received her Bachelor of Engineering degree in Opto-Electronics Information Science and Engineering from Zhejiang University, China in June, 2020. Her previous research experience involved developing mid-infrared photothermal microscopy for chemical histology. She is also interested in super-resolution imaging and data processing. Her hobbies include musicals, badminton, traveling and vlogging.

Rutendo Jakachira

Rutendo Jakachira is a second-year PhD student in the Physics program and member of the PROBE Lab. She received her B.S. in Physics from Drew University in December 2019. Her previous research experience focused on using linear confocal microscopy to image diseased skin cells in vivo. She also did work in non-linear optics where she developed waveguides in glass using a femtosecond laser. Rutendo’s hobbies include exploring new restaurants, reading and traveling.

Alumni

Teniola Oguntolu

Qing Ding

Woowon Lee

Mohammad Mahfuzul Kabir

Hemangg Singh Rajput

Varun Kelkar

Abdul Monnaf Bhuiya

Jie Yee Chan

Hao Chen

Aakash Choubal

Naja Edwards

Yang Hu

Gopala Krishna Inavalli

Kaspar Ko

Ryan Kovarik

Tony Tung Yuen Lau

Scott Leithem

David Luedtke

Donald Magnani

David McDonald

Monal Mehta

Erik Misawa

Chukwuemeka Okoro

Rafael Ramirez

Raghu Ambekar Ramachandra Rao

Sara Rios

Brian Roxworthy

Nalwanda Shamutete

Santosh Tripathi

Mehdi Zaman